Young Justice is, as you might expect, a DC team of young superheroes, who originally appeared as a one-off, Young Justice: The Secret. The core group were Superboy, Robin, and Impulse, featured in the first part of Young Justice: A League of Their Own, the beginning of their own series. (This volume includes Young Justice #1-7 and Young Justice Secret Files 1.)
Superboy, Robin and Impulse have set up camp in the Cave, abandoned by the Justice League. They also manage to manage to bring the android Red Tornado out of his self-imposed hibernation: he figures these guys need some adult guidance, or the world is in serious trouble. Along about the middle of the series, after the boys have discovered the Super-Cycle, which seems to have a particular affinity for Robin (it’s not entirely machine), the boys link up with the new Wonder Girl, Secret, and Arrowette.
This collection is quite enjoyable, if you can deal with Peter David’s tendency toward in-jokes and somewhat puerile humor. There are times when the in-jokes work as an acerbic commentary on comics, and other times when they’re just in-jokes which necessarily depend on a certain geek factor in the reader. The caliber of humor can be judged from the boys’ first encounter with the Mighty Endowed, a young archeologist who was transformed by contact with the Super-Cycle and is now so top-heavy she can’t stand without support. (And in case you don’t get the full significance of it, there’s a helpful box that reminds us her name is “N. Dowd.” Get it?) Thankfully, it gets better. The target audience can be deduced from some of the graffiti that Impulse comes up with when he discovers a can of spray paint: Red Tornado winds up with “Hanson bites” across his chest.
Sins of Youth, which includes a veritable grab bag of single issues, chronicles the effort of the Agenda to obtain samples of superhero DNA, particularly that of Superman. The Contessa, mastermind of the scheme, after a couple of not-so-successful efforts, finally retains the services of Klarion the Witch Boy, who sees the occasion of a “superhero rally” in support of Young Justice as the perfect opportunity and changes the ages of all the superheroes — not only Young Justice, but the Justice League, the Justice Society, the Titans, and a few miscellaneous Spandex-clad heroes. Young Justice are now adults, and the other superheroes are teenagers or younger.
The underlying theme is built on the rise of public opinion against the young heroes, the result of biased reporting — and if you don’t think there’s some commentary on current events in that, you haven’t been paying attention. It comes down pretty hard on our contemporary “journalists.”
After the debacle of the rally, the team splits up, and, unfortunately, so does the story. There are episodes centered on Aquaman, the Marvel twins, Batman and Robin (reversed because of the age change), Flash and Kid Flash (who manage to blow a PR tour because they are too busy dealing with villains), and an expedition to Myrg by Doiby Dickles, the new Star Woman, and a horde of unruly first-graders who used to be superheroes.
Frankly, this volume was a chore to get through. The story line loses focus after the rally, and although the characters are all portrayed at their new ages, the overarching purpose is lost in the smaller crises. And the attempts at humor, such as they are, become stultifyingly repetitive. It works a lot better as single issues. There are too many characters to keep track of — there’s even an appearance at the end by Li’l Lobo — and very few of them actually contribute anything to the story.
The art in both volumes, penciled mainly Todd Nauck, is very appealing, and captures the energy of Young Justice nicely. The other artists who contributed — and they are legion — maintain the overall style. The exception is Rob Haynes, who drew “The Adventures of Superboy . . . When He Was A Man!” Haynes’ style has its own appeal, quite reductive and still expressive, but it does represent a sharp stylistic break with the rest of the volume. The same holds true for Michael Avon Oeming, penciller, and Jason Baumgartner, inker, in “Looking for Trouble,” which follows Shadow and Dead Boy as they engineer the final victory over Klarion and the Agenda.
Frankly, if I had it to do over, I’d pass on Sins of Youth, even though I found A League of Their Own fairly enjoyable. There’s too much comic with very little point, and I have to confess to one of the sins of age: I expect more substance, or at least more intelligence, in my comics.
(Both from DC Comics, 2000)
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